From marginal croplands to natural habitats: A methodological framework for assessing the restoration potential to enhance wild-bee pollination in agricultural landscapes.

Context: Intensive agriculture increases crop yields, but harms biodiversity and associated ecosystem services such as pollination. To sustain wild-bee pollination in intensive agricultural landscapes, a minimum of (semi-) natural habitat is needed in the vicinity of crop fields. However, restoration of (semi-) natural habitat is a challenge, especially when most land is allocated to commodity production.

Inflammation in a ferroptotic environment.

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of cell death, which finally culminates in lipid peroxidation and membrane damage. During the past decade, the interest in ferroptosis increased substantially and various regulatory components were discovered. The role of ferroptosis during inflammation and its impact on different immune cell populations is still under debate.

Tumor associated macrophages transfer ceruloplasmin mRNA to fibrosarcoma cells and protect them from ferroptosis.

Solid tumors are characterized by hypoxic areas, which are prone for macrophage infiltration. Once infiltrated, macrophages polarize to tumor associated macrophages (TAM) to support tumor progression. Therefore, the crosstalk between TAMs and tumor cells is of current interest for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.

Proceedings of the 2019 Viral Clearance Symposium, Session 1: Viral Clearance Strategies and Case Studies.

Session 1 of the 2019 Viral Clearance Symposium proposed strategies to use prior knowledge for demonstrating robust viral clearance for biotechnologically produced recombinant proteins, such as monoclonal antibodies, and introduced methods for virus reduction applicable to recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors. Proposals for generic virus clearance claims were made for detergent inactivation with Triton CG-110, low pH inactivation, anion-exchange membrane chromatography, and virus filtration, and acceptance of these proposals were discussed. Furthermore, the development of an ASTM standard for retrovirus removal by small virus filters was presented, and it was found that updating and refining of conditions is still warranted.

Proceedings of the 2019 Viral Clearance Symposium, Session 2: New Modalities in Chromatography and Adsorptive Filters.

In Session 2 of the 2019 Viral Clearance Symposium, new outcomes of viral clearance performance of polishing chromatography and depth filters utilized in the purification processes of biotechnologically produced recombinant proteins such as monoclonal antibodies were presented. It was shown that flow through both multimodal anion-exchange and anion-exchange chromatography are effective tools for removal of retroviruses and, under defined conditions, also for parvoviruses. Cation-exchange chromatography, when operated in bind/elute mode, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, and depth filtration can also be potent for virus removal, but are less robust for parvoviruses.

Continent-wide tree fecundity driven by indirect climate effects.

Indirect climate effects on tree fecundity that come through variation in size and growth (climate-condition interactions) are not currently part of models used to predict future forests. Trends in species abundances predicted from meta-analyses and species distribution models will be misleading if they depend on the conditions of individuals. Here we find from a synthesis of tree species in North America that climate-condition interactions dominate responses through two pathways, i) effects of growth that depend on climate, and ii) effects of climate that depend on tree size.

Proceedings of the 2017 Viral Clearance Symposium, Session 4: Submission Strategies.

Appropriate performance of virus validation studies and testing of unprocessed bulk harvests for retrovirus particle count are procedures in the demonstration of an acceptable level of viral safety for cell-derived biotechnology products. Product-specific validation studies on virus reduction with two model viruses [usually murine leukemia virus (MuLV) and a parvovirus] performed in duplicate runs are standard for clinical trial applications. For the retroviral safety margin, a 6 log reduction is normally expected.

Accounting for landscape heterogeneity improves spatial predictions of tree vulnerability to drought.

As climate change continues, forest vulnerability to droughts and heatwaves is increasing, but vulnerability varies regionally and locally through landscape position. Also, most models used in forecasting forest responses to heat and drought do not incorporate relevant spatial processes. In order to improve spatial predictions of tree vulnerability, we employed a nonlinear stochastic model of soil moisture dynamics accounting for landscape differences in aspect, topography and soils.

Co-occurring woody species have diverse hydraulic strategies and mortality rates during an extreme drought.

From 2011 to 2013, Texas experienced its worst drought in recorded history. This event provided a unique natural experiment to assess species-specific responses to extreme drought and mortality of four co-occurring woody species: Quercus fusiformis, Diospyros texana, Prosopis glandulosa, and Juniperus ashei. We examined hypothesized mechanisms that could promote these species' diverse mortality patterns using postdrought measurements on surviving trees coupled to retrospective process modelling.

Measuring canopy loss and climatic thresholds from an extreme drought along a fivefold precipitation gradient across Texas.

Globally, trees are increasingly dying from extreme drought, a trend that is expected to increase with climate change. Loss of trees has significant ecological, biophysical, and biogeochemical consequences. In 2011, a record drought caused widespread tree mortality in Texas.

Global satellite monitoring of climate-induced vegetation disturbances.

Terrestrial disturbances are accelerating globally, but their full impact is not quantified because we lack an adequate monitoring system. Remote sensing offers a means to quantify the frequency and extent of disturbances globally. Here, we review the current application of remote sensing to this problem and offer a framework for more systematic analysis in the future.

Vaccination with recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara prevents the onset of intestinal allergy in mice.

Background: Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA)-encoding antigens are considered as safe vaccine candidates for various infectious diseases in humans. Here, we investigated the immune-modulating properties of MVA-encoding ovalbumin (MVA-OVA) on the allergen-specific immune response.

Methods: The immune-modulating properties of MVA-OVA were investigated using GM-CSF-differentiated BMDCs from C57BL/6 mice.

Interleukin-1β receptor expressed by modified vaccinia virus Ankara interferes with interleukin-1β activity produced in various virus-infected antigen-presenting cells.

Background: Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) is a highly attenuated virus and a promising vaccine vector with potent immune stimulating properties. Deletion of the gene encoding the viral interleukin-1beta receptor (vIL-1βR) in MVA (MVAΔIL-1βR) was previously shown to enhance memory T cell function. Here, we investigated the influence of vIL-1βR on blocking interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) upon MVA infection in various antigen presenting cells of murine and human origin, and analyzed whether inflammasome function contributes to IL-1β production in different cell types.

Cytosolic DNA triggers mitochondrial apoptosis via DNA damage signaling proteins independently of AIM2 and RNA polymerase III.

A key host response to limit microbial spread is the induction of cell death when foreign nucleic acids are sensed within infected cells. In mouse macrophages, transfected DNA or infection with modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) can trigger cell death via the absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) inflammasome. In this article, we show that nonmyeloid human cell types lacking a functional AIM2 inflammasome still die in response to cytosolic delivery of different DNAs or infection with MVA.

N1L is an ectromelia virus virulence factor and essential for in vivo spread upon respiratory infection.

The emergence of zoonotic orthopoxvirus infections and the threat of possible intentional release of pathogenic orthopoxviruses have stimulated renewed interest in understanding orthopoxvirus infections and the resulting diseases. Ectromelia virus (ECTV), the causative agent of mousepox, offers an excellent model system to study an orthopoxvirus infection in its natural host. Here, we investigated the role of the vaccinia virus ortholog N1L in ECTV infection.

Evaluation of a modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA)-based candidate pandemic influenza A/H1N1 vaccine in the ferret model.

The zoonotic transmissions of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses of the H5N1 subtype that have occurred since 1997 have sparked the development of novel influenza vaccines. The advent of reverse genetics technology, cell-culture production techniques and novel adjuvants has improved the vaccine strain preparation, production process and immunogenicity of the vaccines, respectively, and has accelerated the availability of pandemic influenza vaccines. However, there is still room for improvement, and alternative vaccine preparations can be explored, such as viral vectors.

Functional F11L and K1L genes in modified vaccinia virus Ankara restore virus-induced cell motility but not growth in human and murine cells.

Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) was generated by serial passaging in chicken embryo fibroblasts. During this attenuation, MVA lost the capacity to productively grow in human and most other mammalian cell lines, as well as acquiring a multitude of deletions and mutations in the MVA genome. This means that the precise molecular basis for the MVA host-range restriction is still unknown.

MVA-based H5N1 vaccine affords cross-clade protection in mice against influenza A/H5N1 viruses at low doses and after single immunization.

Human infections with highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses of the H5N1 subtype, frequently reported since 2003, result in high morbidity and mortality. It is feared that these viruses become pandemic, therefore the development of safe and effective vaccines is desirable. MVA-based H5N1 vaccines already proved to be effective when two immunizations with high doses were used.

Viral host-range factor C7 or K1 is essential for modified vaccinia virus Ankara late gene expression in human and murine cells, irrespective of their capacity to inhibit protein kinase R-mediated phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2alpha.

Vaccinia virus (VACV) infection induces phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2alpha (eIF2alpha), which inhibits cellular and viral protein synthesis. In turn, VACV has evolved the capacity to antagonize this antiviral response by expressing the viral host-range proteins K3 and E3. This study revealed that the host-range genes K1L and C7L also prevent eIF2alpha phosphorylation in modified VACV Ankara (MVA) infection of several human and murine cell lines.

The orthopoxvirus 68-kilodalton ankyrin-like protein is essential for DNA replication and complete gene expression of modified vaccinia virus Ankara in nonpermissive human and murine cells.

Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) is a highly attenuated and replication-deficient vaccinia virus (VACV) that is being evaluated as replacement smallpox vaccine and candidate viral vector. MVA lacks many genes associated with virulence and/or regulation of virus tropism. The 68-kDa ankyrin-like protein (68k-ank) is the only ankyrin repeat-containing protein that is encoded by the MVA genome and is highly conserved throughout the Orthopoxvirus genus.